Homesteading, Homeschooling, and Homemaking in the PNW

Yellow Mustard from Scratch

Learning how to do things myself is one of my favorite parts of homesteading and homemaking. Of course it is simple enough to go to the store and select a mustard from the shelves, but very difficult to find one without additives. Mustard is such an easy, simple thing to make. I’ve been making my own for over a year now and can’t be happier with the results.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add to sauce pan. Mix water and vinegar. Add to sauce pan. Stir until combined and you can see no lumps. If there are any lumps squash them against the side of the pan until the powder comes free and mix it in.

Turn on heat and bring it to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes while stirring. Stir it pretty constantly because otherwise it will try to splatter out of the pan. Keep it on a low boil because a high boil will be too messy.

Now most of the recipes I have ever seen say to put it in a blender at this point to make it smoother, but I find it plenty smooth as is, not grainy at all. You can do as you like.

At this point turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice until it is absorbed. Pour the mustard into hot, sterilized half-pint jars, leaving one inch of head space, that is one inch from the top of the jar. The mustard will expand a little during processing so don’t overfill. Thump the mustard down into the jars to get rid of any air pockets, or stir a bit in the jars to make sure the bubbles are gone. Put on sterilized lids and rings and put the jars into a boiling water bath, then process for 15 minutes. You don’t actually need a canner for this, if you have a tall enough pot to cover the jars with an inch of water and a rack (or even a washcloth underneath in a pinch) to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot you can just use that.

I actually get enough from this recipe for 2 half-pint jars with a little less than a quarter cup left over so I put the extra into a clean jar and put it into the fridge. It lasts for quite some time if you don’t use it up right away. You can certainly make bigger batches than this, but I am the only one in my family who eats yellow mustard on anything. I use all organic ingredients purchased from our local food co-op and it costs me about $2.50 for everything, and yields about 20 ounces of mustard. I know what exactly is in it and don’t risk the rashes or stomach upset I’d get from yellow #5 or other food additives found in store bought yellow mustards, and it is cheaper than buying organic mustard.

As a side note, for a super mild yellow mustard leave out the cayenne. It won’t have much kick to it at all and I find it is a good starter mustard for younger children. Also this mustard is thick, not runny, so you spread it on. I usually use a spoonful and spread it with the back of the spoon. If you want a more squirtable mustard, you can add another 1/4 cup of water to the recipe and adjust from there.